EU Orders Google to Open Android Features to Rival AI Assistants and Share Search Data

The European Commission adopted two sets of binding measures on July 16 requiring Google to give rival artificial intelligence assistants comparable access to key Android features and make anonymized Google Search data available to eligible search providers, including chatbots with online search. The decisions spell out how the company must comply with the Digital Markets Act, or DMA, turning a broad interoperability obligation into a technical roadmap that regulators can monitor.

The first set of measures applies Article 6(7) of the DMA, which requires free and effective interoperability with hardware and software features controlled by a designated gatekeeper's operating system. According to the Commission, about 60% of mobile users in the European Union use Google Android devices, while user-installed assistants still cannot reach some of the functions that make Gemini more deeply integrated with a phone.

The decision organizes 11 features into four groups. The first covers invoking an assistant through the central button or a wake word. The second covers context drawn, with the user's authorization, from apps, sensors and the screen. The third allows assistants to perform tasks in apps and the operating system, such as drafting a message, scheduling a meeting or automating steps in a purchase. The fourth provides nondiscriminatory access to processing resources, on-device AI models and background execution.

This is not unrestricted access to a device. Apps and users will continue to choose which data and actions they make available. For sensitive capabilities — including screen automation, structured app integration and centralized access to local app data — Google may apply objective and nondiscriminatory privacy, security and integrity requirements. Independent assessors will also take part in certification.

Most changes are due in the next major release, Android 18, by August 1, 2027. Concurrent voice activation, which would allow different assistants to respond to their own wake words, may arrive with Android 19 and has a final deadline of August 1, 2028. The legal obligation is immediate, but the user-facing changes will roll out gradually.

The second set of measures applies Article 6(11) of the DMA. It requires Google to share anonymized data on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms so other search engines can develop and improve their own services. The Commission expressly included AI chatbots that provide online search among potential beneficiaries.

The dataset covers ranking, query, click and view data generated through paid and unpaid search. It does not include Google's algorithm or search technology. Recipients may not use the material to train general-purpose AI models, build consumer profiles, improve advertising or systematically reproduce Google Search results.

The implementation schedule calls for application forms and initial information by the end of August 2026, model agreements and test samples by September, a finalized anonymized dataset by November and a completed pricing offer by January 2027. Google may charge incremental costs and a reasonable return on the capital needed to provide access, within the formula set by the Commission.

Anonymization is the most contested part of the decision. The regulatory design requires Google to remove direct identifiers such as usernames and IP addresses, suppress rare or unusually long queries, and generalize metadata. It also calls for a ringfenced data environment, bans on reidentification and onward disclosure, an independent audit before access, and annual reviews. Even after end users are anonymized, the dataset may contain personal data about people named in searches, so recipients remain subject to the EU's General Data Protection Regulation.

Google disputes whether those protections are sufficient. In a statement signed by Kent Walker, president of global affairs at Google and Alphabet, the company argued that giving outside apps sensitive permissions could threaten device security and that private searches could be exposed without adequate anonymization or user awareness. Google is asking for a flexible, evidence-based implementation process that can adjust the measures if concrete risks emerge.

The Commission says user consent will remain necessary for Android features, only eligible and audited operators will receive search data, and Google may exclude recipients that pose serious cybersecurity or data-protection risks. Regulators may also reopen the proceedings if future assessments identify material flaws.

The decisions target two assets that reinforce the advantage of an integrated platform: control of the operating system and data accumulated at scale. By defining interfaces, deadlines, testing and technical support, the Commission is trying to prevent Google from meeting an interoperability obligation only on paper. In search, it aims to stop Google Search's longstanding advantage from automatically carrying over to AI products such as Gemini.

Developers could gain the ability to build assistants with capabilities closer to Gemini's without creating an operating system of their own. Users are promised more choice. The corresponding risk is a wider surface for access to messages, sensors, screens and interaction data, making meaningful consent, certification and regulatory oversight central to the policy's success.

The decisions do not create automatic legal obligations in Brazil or elsewhere outside the European Union. They may serve as a regulatory reference on gatekeepers, interoperability and data governance, but any local duty would depend on the relevant country's own laws and authorities.

The measures have been adopted, but they have not yet been implemented or tested in practice. There is no evidence yet that access will produce effective competition or that the anonymization design will withstand every reidentification scenario. The Commission did not attach a fine to these two decisions. Google must report on its interoperability progress over the next two years, while the search-data milestones run into 2027. The policy's real effect will depend on the final technical implementation, independent testing and enforcement directed at both Google and approved recipients.